


The one where Erin doesn’t know what a chinchilla is

by KatrinaKenyon



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, I guess I didn't know what a chinchilla looked like either, Mostly Fluff, Tiny bit of Angst, alternative use of frosting, they're kind of cute?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-03 03:57:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10235354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatrinaKenyon/pseuds/KatrinaKenyon
Summary: Erin doesn't have a clue what a chinchilla is, but she's kind of jealous of all the attention they get from Holtzmann.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I know I haven't updated my other story, 'Shake it Out ," in a while, but this idea just wouldn't leave my head.

The first time Erin hears about Holtzmann’s chinchillas, she is completely taken by surprise. Of course, this may be because the engineer referred to them as her children and Erin didn’t really know much about the woman at this point in time, other than her penchant for 80’s music and seriously mismatched clothes. They were working late one night in their little lab above the Chinese restaurant when it happened. Abby had gone home for the night and this was before Patty had joined them, so it was just her and Holtzmann burning the midnight oil. She had a little desk and a white board in one corner of the room, while Holtzmann worked at a large table covered in various scraps of metal, inventing things Erin had only dreamed and theorized about.

She hears the engineer begin to pack up and glances down at her watch. It’s nearly 10pm and she should really think about leaving herself. She puts the cap back on her ultrafine tip pen and starts to organize her papers. She looks up again when she hears the other woman clear her throat. She startles a little when she finds Holtzmann standing right in front of her, all packed up and seemingly ready to go. 

“Later Gilbert. Mama’s gotta get home to her babies.”

Erin isn’t sure if she’s heard the woman correctly and tentatively asks, “You have children?” 

“Four of them,” the engineer says with a little pride coloring her voice. 

She’s tries really hard not to look shocked and fails, but then the engineer grins at her and she rolls her eyes. She should have known it was just a joke. Holtzmann is rarely ever serious. Actually, she’s not sure if the woman has been ever serious. 

“They’re chinchillas,” Holtzmann finally says.

“Oh,” she says slowly. She has no idea what a chinchilla is (maybe some kind of exotic reptile?), but she knows that they’re probably just Holtzmann’s pets. 

“Well, I’m out. Night Er-bear.”

Erin’s cheeks flame at the cutesy nickname and this only seems to encourage the other woman. Holtzmann winks at her, then gives her a two fingered salute as she makes her way to the door.

 

Its several months after the near apocalypse when she hears about the chinchillas again. They’re all settled into the firehouse at this point. Abby and Patty share the first floor, while she has somehow managed to get pushed into the second floor lab with Holtzmann. She doesn’t mind it really, but she does wish that Holtzmann would practice better lab safety habits. Erin still doesn’t know what a chinchilla is the next time Holtzmann mentions them again. In her mind she has decided that they are indeed exotic reptiles, maybe something like an iguana. She should really just google it, but she decides that it isn’t really worth the effort. 

Holtzmann is talking to Patty about how adorable her little babies are and how snuggly they are, while Erin tries to picture what it would be like to snuggle with four iguanas. She makes a face that must be one of pure displeasure because Holtz is staring at her incredulously.

“Gilbert! My babies are the cutest. I demand you stop making that face!”

She tries, but her expression turns into something like a grimace, which apparently doesn’t appease the engineer either. 

Holtzmann points a finger at her and mock glares. “That’s it! I must defend their honor!”

The engineer rushes over to the white board where she’s standing and catches her before she even has a chance to run. She struggles a little in the engineer’s embrace, but then dissolves into fits of giggles when hands begin to tickle her sides. She can hear Patty cackling in the background as she tries to tell Holtzmann to stop in between laughs.

“I’m sorry!” She manages to get out. “Just stop. Please!”

“Say my babies are cute!” The engineer demands.

“They’re cute! They’re cute! Now stop.” She’s slightly out of breath and her abs are aching now.

“Only if you say I’m cute too,” Holtzmann follows this up with some particularly vicious tickling. 

“Okay, okay! You’re cute too!”

And finally the tickling stops. She puts her hands on her knees and tries to catch her breath. When she finally looks up again Holtzmann is sitting at her desk, leaning forward on her elbows with her chin resting in her leather gloved hands.

Holtmann smirks and arches an eyebrow at her. “So you think I’m cute, Gilbert?”

“What?! No way!” The engineer pouts at her and she knows it’s just fake, but she finds herself backpedaling anyway. “No, I mean not that you’re not cute. Cause you can be-. Sometimes, in certain situations, just not this particular situation…” 

She pauses and looks at the engineer who is giving her a cat that ate the canary kind of smile and looking at her with amusement sparkling in her perfect blue eyes. She blushes and stutters, but can’t seem to actually sting together words. Holtzmann’s smile turns into a grin, all teeth, like the engineer could just eat her alive. Devour her. Erin swallows audibly, feels her cheeks heat up along with other parts of her body. She thinks she would be okay if that’s what Holtzmann really wanted to do. Her eyes widen in surprise at that thought. She has no idea where this sudden attraction to her colleague has come from, but she definitely needs to leave before she says anything else. 

“Chinchillas are...stupid,” she throws out before making a quick getaway. 

 

The topic of chinchillas doesn’t come up again for another couple of weeks and Holtzmann and Patty have been blessedly quiet about her weird little freak-out. However, Patty gives her a pointed look the day after that lets her know the historian knows what’s up. She tries to ignore her growing attraction to Holtzmann, but is unsuccessful. It would probably be much easier to do, if they didn’t share a lab and spend hours on end with each other. 

She finds herself in need of a caffeine break one dreary afternoon. It’s cloudy and rainy outside. The perfect weather for napping or curling up on the couch with a book, but it’s mid-morning in the middle of the work week and she can do neither of these things.She pads bare foot down the hall having ditched her heels under her desk hours ago. She shivers a little and makes a mental note to turn up the heat. She can see light from the breakroom shining out into the hallway up ahead. Abby and Holtzmann’s voices drift out of the breakroom, growing louder with every step she takes. She freezes up just outside the door, when she hers the topic of conversation. 

Those damn chinchillas.

She still gets secondhand embarrassment just thinking about her last conversation about those ridiculous reptiles. She tries to back away quietly, not really keen on joining in on this particular conversation. Abby’s back is to her, but Holtzmann notices her and manages to catch her eye. She keeps backing away slowly, even though she know she must look like a giant weirdo. The engineer gives her a questioning look, but otherwise lets her get away unnoticed.

The next time she hears about the chinchillas, she is completely and utterly infatuated with their resident mechanical engineer. She may also be avoiding Holtzmann because she has no idea what to do with all these feelings. She hopes they’ll just go away on their own because Holtzmann is so out of her league, it’s not even funny. She sits quietly at her desk, while Holtzmann entertains Patty and Abby at her worktable with stories about the birthday party she just threw her babies. She does not understand what these creatures have done to deserve all that love and adoration the engineer bestows upon them on a daily basis.

She is suddenly disgusted with herself. She’s jealous of freakin’ chinchillas. Chinchillas! What is wrong with her?! She stands and decides some fresh air might be good for her. In the alleyway behind the firehouse she paces back and forth, mumbling to herself. She just needs to get over Holtzmann. The engineer would never be interested in someone like her and she just needed to accept that.

Those dumb chinchillas started all this. They didn’t really, but she needs to be angry at something because being angry will distract her from obsessing over Holtzmann and her stupid perfect face and her stupid brilliant brain.

“Stupid chinchillas,” she mumbles under her breath. 

Out of nowhere she hears the engineer’s voice. “Do you really hate them that much?”

She jumps about a foot in the air and turns around to find Holtzmann leaning against the brick wall of the firehouse looking at her with an unreadable expression. She puts a hand over her racing heart and stares at the engineer. How long had she been watching?

“No,” she answers, but it comes out sounding like a question. “I don’t know. Probably.”

She winces at her own inability to actually state what the real problem is. Her huge crush on the engineer.

Holtzmann stares at her, eyes wide in disbelief. “Erin Gilbert, please tell me that you have not been avoiding me these last few weeks because of a couple chinchillas.”

If she says yes, she’ll sound absolutely insane, but if she says no Holtzmann will ask her what’s really going on and she might do something stupid like jump her in the middle of this alleyway. Her lack of response apparently spurs the engineer into action because the next thing she knows she’s being dragged in the direction of the street.

“Okay, that’s it. You’re going to meet my babies. Right now.”

“Right now?” She squeaks out. “Holtz, it’s the middle of the day. We have work!” She tugs herself out of the engineer’s grip and tries to stride back to the firehouse.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Holtzmann says behind her. “I will not let our friendship fall to ruins because you hate my children.”

“Holtz, you’re making a scene,” she hisses. She increases her speed with Holtzmann hot on her trail. 

“I don’t care. This is too important,” the engineer says vehemently. 

Erin finds herself momentarily stalled, touched that Holtzmann cares so much about their relationship.

“I mean it Erin. This thing needs to be resolved. I will carry you the whole way if I have too.”

“You wouldn’t,” she challenges.

Holtzmann just arches an eyebrow at her.

She takes a step back. “You couldn’t?”

“I may be small, but I’m strong. I once fought a thousand bees.”

“What?” Erin sputters. “You did not. That doesn’t even make sense. How would that make you strong? Bees are tiny and…” She trails off, realizing how pointless this argument is. 

Despite all her protests and assurances that their friendship is safe, she still find herself sitting next to Holtzmann on a train heading to the engineer’s apartment. This whole situation is ridiculous and she has no idea how she let things get this out of control. She lets out a huff of frustration and squirms uncomfortably on the hard plastic seats of the subway train.

The engineer puts an arm around her and looks her over with a scrutinizing eye. “What is going on with you, Gilbert?”

“Nothing,” she says sulkily, but leans into the engineer anyway. 

Holtzmann sighs. “Clearly, something is going on with you and its affecting our friendship. I’m not going to force you to talk Erin, but I’m here whenever you’re ready. I just don’t want to lose you, especially if it’s over something as dumb as you not liking my fur babies.”

She reaches out to squeeze the engineer’s hand reassuringly. “You’ll never loose me. We’re going to be best friends until the day you tragically die in a lab accident.”

Holtzmann snorts. “Thanks Gilbert.”

Holtzmann’s apartment isn’t as big of a disaster as she thought it would be. It’s clean and everything, but really cluttered with boxes and shelves brimming with what she considers to be junk and what Holtzmann probably thinks is invaluable treasure. In summary, it’s organized chaos. The engineer leads her to the living room, which is small and half of it is occupied by a giant multi-level cage.

“Erin, I’d like you to meet my babies. Ada, Janeway, Scully, and Holtzmann Jr.” 

She steps forward to take a look at the creatures in the cage, while Holtzmann buzzes around anxiously behind her. Her first glimpse at the creatures tells her she was completely wrong about chinchillas being a type of reptile. They’re rodents and they look like a cross between a rat and a squirrel. There are two grey ones, a brownish one, and a black one. 

“Wait, these are chinchillas?” She says out loud. “These little rat things are your babies?”

The engineer smacks her lightly. “Gilbert, don’t be mean.”

Holtzmann then reaches down to open the door to the cage and four little fur balls come speeding out. She lets out a squeak of surprise and inches closer to Holtzmann. She watches them chase each other around the room, still in shock that they’re not reptiles. She definitely should have googled chinchillas. When she turns back around, she finds the engineer just staring at her. 

“You didn’t know what a chinchilla was?

“I thought they were reptiles, like lizards or iguanas or something gross like that. I’ve never seen one before, okay?!”

The engineer glares and points a finger in her direction. “And you spent all this time hating on my babies? That’s so judgy and rude!”

Something runs over her foot and she lets out a tiny, but embarrassing shriek. The chinchillas start running dizzying circles around her and Holtzmann and she creeps even closer to the engineer. She’s not afraid of them per se, but there’s just so many of them and they seem to be everywhere at once. 

“Okay, Er-bear. Go sit down on the couch. Let me wrangle the babies so you can hold one of them.”

“That’s alright Holtz. I don’t really need to…”

Her protests are drowned out by the sound of Holtzmann shaking what appears to be a bag of treats. The little furballs rush over to their mother squeaking and twitching their bushy tails with excitement. She watches as the engineer doles out treats and talks to them in a baby voice. It’s actually kind of cute? Eventually, all of the chinchillas except for one of the grey ones is ushered back into the massive cage. Holtzmann approaches the couch where she’s seated with the fourth chinchilla cupped in her hands.

“Meet Holtzmann Jr. Don’t tell the others, but I think she’s the cutest,” the engineer whispers to her.

The engineer holds the little creature out to her and she cautiously puts out a hand for the chinchilla to sniff. It didn’t bite her, so she takes that as a good sign. The next step is apparently holding the chinchilla, which she does somewhat reluctantly. Holtzmann chuckles above her. “Don’t look so scared. I promise she doesn’t bite, unless she’s really scared or you smell like food.”  
She tries to relax, but judging by Holtzmann’s expression, she’s not doing a good job of it. She places Holtzmann Jr. on her lap and the creature immediately snuggles down and curls up into a little ball. 

Okay, that’s kind of cute. She gives the chinchilla a tentative pat on the head. Its fur is soft and silky and okay a chinchilla is not a bad pet to have. 

“So?” The engineer prompts.

“They’re not terrible,” she concedes. 

Holtzmann smirks at her. “Admit it, you love my little fur babies.”

She tries to hold back her smile. “They’re okay, Holtz.”

“You looove them. You totally love them,” Holtzmann says in a kind of creepy baby voice while poking her in the ribs.

She laughs and swats at the engineer. “Stop that.”

She looks down at Holtzmann Jr. to make sure the little creature hasn’t run away and then back at Holtzmann Sr. who is looking directly at her. The engineer’s gorgeous cerulean blue eyes are trained on her’s unwaveringly. She’s never seen Holtzmann look so serious. She’s almost afraid of what the woman is going to say next.

“So,” Holtzmann begins hesitantly. “Are we okay now?”

“Yeah,” she says a little breathlessly. 

Holtzmann smiles in response and it nearly takes her breath away. It’s like pure unadulterated sunshine. Oh and those dimples. She can’t help, but beam back in return and so what if she has a slightly dreamy look on her face as she does? Holtzmann takes the opportunity to put her last little fur baby away while she is lost in her thoughts about said woman. The cage clicks closed, but Holtzmann remains frozen in her crouched position. She knows instantly that Holtzmann is still unconvinced, still worried about their friendship. Despite how outwardly confident the engineer is, she knows just how insecure the woman is about the people in her life.

She knows that Holtzmann was raised by her mother, who died when she was sixteen, and then was in foster care until she aged out of the system. Her first real friend was Abby, but before that she was alone. The ghostbusters are the first family that she’s had in a while and Erin knows just how important they are to her. She makes her way across the room and crouches down beside the engineer. After a moment’s hesitation, she wraps her arms around Holtzmann from behind and rests her chin on her shoulder. 

“We were always okay, Jillian. Okay?”

Holtzmann turns her head slightly, so that they’re cheek to cheek. She smiles and enjoys the feeling of the engineer’s silken skin against her own. 

“Okay,” Holtzmann says quietly and she can literally feel all the tension leave the engineer’s body.

The moment is ruined, however, when Holtzmann leans backwards suddenly and they both fall to the ground laughing. 

 

After her initial meeting with the chinchillas, Holtzmann insists that she keeps visiting to form a ‘relationship’ with her children. She doesn’t mind the visits at all. It just means more one-on-one time with the engineer. At first the visits are jut focused solely on the chinchillas, but eventually they begin to branch out and talk about other things. The visits get longer and she stays for dinner. Then they start doing movie marathons, because Holtzmann cannot believe that she’s never seen Kill Bill or Back to the Future or any number of iconic movies. Sometimes she falls asleep during these marathons and ends up sleeping over. It’s nice because Holtzmann makes her pancakes in the morning.

What started out as visits to the chinchillas ended up as hangouts at Holtzmann’s most Friday nights. It’s nice and her curiosity about the engineer is slowly being satiated with every visit. This particular Friday, they both decide to bring work home. She’s lounging on one end of the couch with her long legs stretched out, editing the latest chapter of the new book Abby and she are writing, while Holtzmann sits on the other end drafting designs for new inventions. Two glasses of wine sit on the coffee table in front of them along with Holtzmann’s yellow tinted goggles and her glasses case.

She’s never worn her glasses around anyone before and honestly she tries not to wear them if she can help it. She needs them for reading, but they make her feel like an old lady. They’re a simple pair of black thick-rimmed glasses with rectangular lenses. They make her look like a gigantic nerd, but they do reduce the strain on her eyes when reading. As it happens, she can feel her eyes starting to strain as they’ve done for every other chapter she’s had to edit for the new book. She sighs and reaches over to grab her glasses. She slips them on and picks up her red pen to begin editing again.

She becomes quickly absorbed in her work and she doesn’t hear the scratching of Holtzmann’s pencil stop.

“Huh,” the engineer says breaking the silence.

She looks up to see cerulean eyes trained on her and she self-consciously adjusts her glasses. 

“Oh these? I just use them for reading and usually only at home.” At Holtzmann’s continued silence she says, “I know, they look-.”

“Hot.” Holtzmann finishes for her.

The blush appears almost immediately. She blames it on the wine. It’s definitely the wine. “O-oh.”

Holtzmann abandons her blueprints and crawls closer to her, staring a bit too intensely. The woman then swings a leg over her hips and takes a seat on her lap. The engineer was never clear on personal space. 

“They look good, cupcake. You should wear them more often.”

“S-sure.”

Holtzmann grins at her, all teeth, and heat flushes through her body. She wants so badly to kiss Holtzmann right now. To distract herself she takes off her glasses and slips them onto the engineer’s face. She looks cute in them. 

Holtzmann waggles her eyebrows at her. “So how do I look?”

“Like a giant nerd,” she jokes.

Holtzmann snorts in amusement and then hands her glasses back to her. They stare at each other for a moment before she realizes what a big sap she’s being, staring longingly into the eyes of the girl she’s crushing on. 

“Holtzy, you’re still sitting on me.”

“You know a lot of girls would be thrilled to have me on their lap.”

She rolls the eyes and pushes the engineer off of her. “Yeah, yeah, you’re a total hottie.”

Holtzmann is still staring at her and it’s a little unnerving, so she grabs her wine glass and downs half of it. For some reason this makes make Holtzmann grin even more. 

“Erin, have you ever kissed a girl?”

She chokes on her wine and ends up having a coughing fit. “Jesus Holtzmann,” she says trying to catch her breath. “Can you not ask me questions like that while I’m drinking?”

Holtzmann winks at her in response. “Where’s the fun in that? And you didn’t answer the question.”

“Well uh-. A couple of times,” she finally admits. 

The engineer’s eyebrows fly up to her hairline. “Well, aren’t you just full of surprises?”

She shrugs.

“Aren’t you going to tell Holtzy all about it?”

She takes a slow sip of wine and gathers her thoughts. “Um, there isn’t really that much to tell. I kissed a few girls in college and grad school.” She shrugs not knowing what else to say. “I did kiss Abby once, but that was like in high school.”

“I knew it!” Holtz exclaims eyes wide and practically bouncing in her spot on the couch.

“It wasn’t like that. We were just practicing.”

Holtzman grins. “For the boys, right.”

“Shut up.”

Holtzmann laughs in response.

“So, you like women then?” The engineer finally asks.

She squirms uncomfortably in her seat and stares at the chinchilla cage across the living room. She should just put it out there. After all, she likes Holtzmann and this would let her know that she was totally up for dating her. 

“Yeah, I guess. I mean I don’t really act on my attraction to women. I’ve always tried very hard to be normal and liking women isn’t exactly the norm. It’s just a facet of myself that I tend to ignore. So, I guess I like women in theory? Well, I slept with a woman once.”

Holtzmann who had been silent during her rant suddenly speaks up. “Shut the front door! When did you sleep with a woman? College?.”

Even though she’s not exactly thrilled to have such a frank and detailed discussion about her sexuality, it’s kind of nice talking about it with absolutely no judgment. It’s somehow not as scary as she thought it would be. 

“Um, it wasn’t college. It was about 7 years ago. There was this woman in the English Department at Columbia. She was nice and we got on well.”

“You dated her?”

She wrings her wrists nervously. “I guess so? We went out for coffee a couple of times and then she invited me over to her place and cooked dinner for me and then one thing led to another and…yeah, we slept together.”

“And then?” Holtzmann asks eagerly.

“And then I freaked out and ruined everything.” She sighs. “Classic Erin.”

Holtzmann puts a hand over both of hers to still their anxious movements. 

“Well, what about you?” She asks. She has no desire to speak about that disaster, so she moves the conversation in another direction

Holtzmann smirks at her. “Yes, Erin, I like girls. Have definitely kissed a couple too.”

She rolls her eyes. “No, I mean, why don’t you have a girlfriend? You’re brilliant, you’re gorgeous, and you’re funny. You’re like perfect.”

The engineer leans back and fidgets uncomfortably. “A lot of people would disagree with that. I don’t know if you’ve noticed angel face, but I’m completely nutzo. I’m weird and loud and most people are embarrassed to be around me.” Holtzmann smiles weakly and shrugs. “Guess I’m not girlfriend material.”

She reaches out to hold one of Holtzmann’s hands in her own, rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand with her thumb. The engineer looks down at their joined hands and then continues speaking.

“People aren’t really interested in dating me. One night stands are fun and all, but no one has ever stuck around long enough and honestly, I’ve stopped trying. So yeah, definitely not perfect.”

Holtzmann still won’t look at her, so she reaches out to gently tip the engineer’s face up. She waits until the engineer looks her in the eye and then says with conviction, “Well, I think you’re perfect the way you are. Everyone else is just an idiot.”

She thinks she sees a sheen of tears forming in the engineer’s eyes and her heart aches for her.

 

Things change after the conversation they have that night. Holtzmann continues to flirt, but is now more tactile with her. There are small touches from the engineer whenever the woman walks by, a pair of steadying hands on her hips whenever she stumbles, which is often because she is pretty clumsy, and whenever they sit together now it’s always close enough so that their shoulders touch. She starts using terms of endearment, which is something she has never done before. Holtzmann has always had cutesy nicknames for her, but when she calls the engineer sweetheart for the first time, it’s a little bit of a shock. She apologized immediately after, but the engineer just grinned and said she didn’t mind at all.

They spend more and more time together. Jillian is like the sun and she can’t help that she’s been caught in her orbit, soaking up every new detail about the woman like rays of light. She has never been more comfortable or happier with another person before. She thinks maybe this might be much more than a crush now. It feels a little like maybe they’re dating, only there’s no kissing or sex, and just some platonic-ish cuddling. 

She doesn’t want to rush it, doesn’t want to push it incase she’s actually wrong and Holtzmann doesn’t have romantic feelings for her. They continue as they are for a month or two, much to the chagrin of Abby and Patty. She’s in no rush and she’s happy for whatever Holtzmann wants to give her. At least for now.

 

Holtzmann knocks on her door 10 minutes later than the agreed upon time, which is okay because she’s still on the phone with her little sister and they’re in the middle of a good argument. This Friday, she’s switching things up and making Holtzmann come to her apartment. Abby’s birthday is on Saturday and her friend has been dropping hints all week about craving espresso chocolate cake, a cake she used to make for Abby’s birthday every year until they parted ways. Now that they’re friends again, she’s going to make Abby the best espresso chocolate cake ever. She has plans for a three-tiered cake with tasteful decorations. It has to be perfect and her kitchen is way better than Holtzmann’s, thus the change in routine. 

The knocking at the door gets louder and faster, but she merely rolls her eyes and sighs. The engineer can be such a child sometimes. She puts down her handheld mixer and then uses her now free hand to hold her cellphone to her ear. She should have just left the door unlocked to begin with. 

She opens the door without stopping her conversation with her sister or saying anything to Holtzmann. She gives the engineer a nod of acknowledgement and walks back to the kitchen. Holtzmann trails behind her and doesn’t even pretend not to listen to her conversation with her sister. 

“Okay, first of all, he would definitely be a Hufflepuff.” So this wasn’t the most cerebral argument she and her sister have ever had, but it’s really important that they sort all the characters from Brooklyn Nine-Nine into the different Hogwarts houses. 

“There’s nothing wrong with being a Hufflepuff. I’m a Hufflepuff!”

She hears Holtzmann snort behind her and whips around to glare at the woman. 

Her sister says some other disparaging words about her house and she’s really starting to feel offended now. The little brat.

“Okay, wow rude. I’m telling mom.” Her voice comes out all whiney and high-pitched like she’s an actual pre-teen again. “Anyways, I gotta go. I have a friend over.”

“Yes, one of the ghostbusters.”

She rolls her eyes when her sister asks her if it’s the hot one. She means Holtzmann.

“Yes, the hot one.” She responds before she can think better of it.

Holtzmann’s eyebrows shoot up to her hairline and she gets this smug look on this face. That’s not good.

“Alright, bye sis.”

She hangs up and tries to nonchalantly go back to making frosting.

“Soooo, there were so many things about that conversation that I have questions about. Also, I think I just got a hint of what you were like as a teenager.”

She turns on the hand mixer to drown out the engineer and maybe distract her from the fact that her and her sister refer to her as the hot ghostbuster. God, that’s embarrassing. Once the frosting is thoroughly mixed, she switches the hand mixer off. Holtzmann is leaning with her elbows on the kitchen island, face resting in her hands, and staring at her with that smug little smile still on her face.

She lets out a long suffering sigh. Might as well get this over with. 

“What, Holtz?”

“So, I’m the hot one, huh?”

“Yep.”

Holtzmann grins and waggles her eyebrow at her. “You think I’m hot?”

She decides to go with complete honesty. There’s only so many times they can do this dance.“You know I do,” she says easily. “You’re easily one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen.”

She says it like it’s a fact, leaving no room for argument, and after she says it the most interesting thing happens. Splotches of pink appear on the engineer’s cheeks. She looks on in amazement. She has never seen Holtzmann blush before and it’s kind of a pretty picture. In lieu of teasing the engineer, she picks up her blueprint for the super awesome birthday cake she’s planning to build Abby.

“So, here’s what I was thinking.”

She waits patiently while the engineer pulls herself together and actually gets a look at her cake design. She admits it might be a bit too ambitious, but she figured with an actual engineer helping, the cake might be doable. 

“Erin, this cake is huge!”

“I know, but it’s for Abby. It has to be perfect.” She says the last part with a hint of desperation and it gets the engineer’s attention.

She knows that this cake can’t make up for over a decade of missed birthdays, but god dammit she’s going to try. No matter how many times Abby says she forgives her, she still feels guilty. She wonders if she’ll always feel like this or if she can at some point forgive herself like Abby already has. 

“Erin,” Holtzmann says quietly. 

She stares at the blueprint and wills herself not to get emotional because this is supposed to be a fun little activity. Suddenly there are tentative arms around her waist as Holtzmann hugs her from behind.

“Is this okay?”

She leans back into Holtzmann and the engineer holds her more tightly.

“More than okay,” she murmurs in response.

They stay like that for a while, longer than friends probably should. She absentmindedly traces the small ghost tattoo on Holtzmann’s left wrist, while Holtmann buries her nose in her hair. She can feel the engineer’s cold nose move from the back of her neck to the side of her neck. Warm lips quickly take the place of that too cold nose and soft kisses are pressed along the column of her neck. She swears it feels just like heaven. When a strategic kiss is placed behind her ear, she lets out an involuntary whimper.

She wants to let it continue, but a cake needs to be made, sooner rather than later. Plus, she already pre-heated the oven and if they don’t stop now, they might accidently burn down the apartment. She somehow finds the willpower to leave Holtzmann’s arms, but only just barely.

When she turns around, the engineer’s cheeks are flushed. Her eyes are hooded, her pupils blown into giant black discs. She is beautiful. She’s not just the sun that Erin orbits around. She is all the stars and planets and all the swirling galaxies. No, she’s so much more than that even. In this moment she is the entire universe. She’s the woman that she’s definitely in love with.

Erin smiles, leans in, and gives the engineer a soft chaste kiss that’s over too soon.

“Cake first,” she says.

Holtzmann just blinks at her still a little dazed. 

“Cake first,” she repeats. “And then we talk about us.”

“Us?” Holtzmann asks with uncertainty.

She remembers the conversation they had all those nights ago about Holtzmann giving up on dating, on giving up on love.

“Yeah. I’m sticking around, Holtz, for as long as you’ll have me. If you’ll have me?”

Holtzmann grins at her then. It’s blinding and beautiful. “Of course, I’ll have you Er-bear.” And then the engineer winks at her and totally ruins the moment.

She laughs despite herself and they get to work.They make the cake batter, sharing smiles and soft touches as they do. While the cake bakes, she show’s Holtzmann how to make roses and they strategize how best to put the cake together so it won’t topple over. Finally, the cakes are out of the oven and done cooling. She watches as the engineer constructs the tiered cake while she waits off to the side with a huge bowl of chocolate frosting.

She dips her finger into the chocolate and steals a swipe of it for herself. She definitely does not think about licking frosting off the engineer. She totally does and she feels her whole body heat up.

“You okay over there Gilbert? You turning an awfully interesting shade of red.”

She looks at the frosting and then at the engineer who is looking at her with an eyebrow arched questioningly. The small smile on the engineer’s mouth turns into a smirk as she makes the connection.

“Erin, Erin my little Er-bear, please share with the class what you’re thinking about.”

She keeps her mouth shut and shakes her head vigorously no. 

Eriiiin,” Holtzmann sings. The engineer continues to sing her name in an annoying little tune. She knows from experience that Holtzmann won’t give up until she gives in. 

“I’m thinking about nothing” She laughs nervously and then really quickly and quietly adds, “definitely not thinking about licking frosting off your body or anything like that. Nope, not thinking about anything and definitely not that.”

She’s met with absolute silence. Holtzmann’s jaw drops and cerulean blue eyes stare at her wide in wonder and then suddenly the engineer is on her and they’re kissing. Hot, messy, open mouthed kisses. She pulls at the engineer’s clothes to get her closer and Holtzmann’s hand slide down her back to cup her ass. The engineer pulls back all of a sudden and dips her finger into the frosting. 

“Holtz! That frosting is for the cake.” She protests, but there’s no real heat behind it. 

Holtzmann looks her in the eyes defiantly and licks the frosting off her finger in a manner so obscene that it should have been illegal. And fuck if that isn’t the hottest thing she’s ever seen. When she kisses Holtzmann again she tastes like chocolate and just a hint of expresso. 

 

Long story short: the cake gets made eventually, but they end up having to make a new batch of frosting. She doesn’t usually do sex before at least one date, but she’s willing to make an exception. Extenuating circumstances and all that. She definitely licks frosting off of Holtz that night and it’s pretty freakin’ awesome. Basically, they live happily ever after as science girlfriends until somewhere down the line, she decides to follow Beyoncé’s sage advice and put a ring on it.

And that’s the story of how Erin Gilbert, doctor of particle physics, became the stepmother to 4 chinchillas. 

The End


End file.
